-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: September 12, 2007 2:53:27 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Reid vows to block confirmation of Bush nominee Olson
Top Democrat vows to block
possible Bush nominee
Wed Sep 12, 2007 4:59PM EDT
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN1227215020070912?
=undefined&src=091207_1617_TOPSTORY_oil_hits_record_%2480&sp=true
By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid vowed on
Wednesday to block former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson
from becoming attorney general if President George W. Bush
nominates him to replace Alberto Gonzales.
Congressional and administration officials have described Olson as
a leading contender for the job as chief U.S. law enforcement
officer, but Reid declared, "Ted Olson will not be confirmed" by
the Senate.
"He's a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general
is a partisan," Reid, a Nevada Democrat, told Reuters in a brief
hallway interview on Capitol Hill.
Reid and other Democrats argue that after Gonzales' stormy tenure
the Justice Department needs to become less political.
Gonzales resigned last month, effective next Monday, amid a series
of congressional investigations into his firing of federal
prosecutors and his handling of Bush's domestic spying program.
White House press secretary Tony Snow, amid word that Bush was
nearly ready to pick a new attorney general, said, "We don't have a
decision yet." Current and former administration officials said
they did not expect a decision until next week at the earliest.
"Something happened. I don't know what," said one official, who had
earlier expected an announcement this week.
Olson has been among a handful of possible nominees to head the
U.S. Justice Department that the White House had been considering,
congressional and administration officials said.
Others include federal appeals Judge Laurence Silberman, former
Deputy Attorneys General George Terwilliger III and Larry Thompson,
and Paul Clement, the current solicitor general.
The solicitor general serves as the administration's chief advocate
in cases before the Supreme Court.
One Justice Department official said Thompson was widely liked and
highly regarded. "People here would be happy with Ted, but they
would be thrilled with Larry," the official said.
WIFE DIED IN 9/11
Olson was confirmed by the Senate in 2001 as solicitor general on a
largely party-line vote of 51-47. Democrats had accused him of
underplaying his role in a multimillion-dollar conservative effort
to dig up scandals to undermine Democrat Bill Clinton when he was
president.
Olson played a key role in defending the administration's
controversial legal strategy in the war on terrorism as solicitor
general from 2001 to 2004.
His then-wife, Barbara Olson, a conservative television commentator
and author, died in the September 11 attacks when the hijacked
plane she was on crashed into the Pentagon. Olson has since remarried.
Reid said selection of Olson, who represented Bush in the court
fight over the 2000 presidential election, as attorney general
would trigger a confirmation battle.
Democrats control the Senate 51-49. But even if a few Democrats
backed Olson, Reid could raise a procedural roadblock that would
need 60 votes to clear.
"I will do everything within my power as majority leader to stop
Ted Olson from being confirmed," Reid told Reuters.
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